I
went to a trial this weekend with my dogs and was astounded by the
number of dogs that were overweight but still competing at the higher
levels. Yes, fat dogs doing Masters level agility.
We
all know the aliments that follow us people around who find themselves
with spare tire around their waist – pain in the feet, ankles, knees,
hips and lower back. Three of those I suffer from myself. So, I can only
imagine how chubby puppies feel as they haul all that extra weight
around the agility field – climbing contact obstacles, pounding the
ground jump-after-jump-after-jump, trying to run faster, turn tight and
weave through the poles. What an incredible stress they are under – much
more than us chubby folk who just run along with our dogs. If I am
huffing and puffing I can only imagine what fat dogs are feeling like
after a run.
Obesity
is rampant in our country (I carry a few too many myself) and this
problem is becoming more and more prevalent in our family pets. Agility
can be a great avenue for both a handler and dog to get in to better
shape – but it won’t happen overnight. The pound went on slowly and they
will come off even slower.
So,
how do you know if your dog is overweight? As each dog is built
differently, even within a breed, you must use your hands to tell you.
Use this chart as a guide and it will help you determine if your dog is
at a healthy weight or not.

I
am constantly evaluating my dogs weight. Each week, after they get a
brush out (the hair can be misleading if there is too much bulky
undercoat) I feel them all over to evaluate muscle mass and overall
weight. Travis puts on weight easily. If he is feeling a little “rounder” I’ll cut
back his food and increase his cardio exercise a little and revaluate
the following week. Indie, on the other hand, is very hard to keep
weight on. He gets the same food as Travis, but also another food with
higher protein and fat for additional calories. Even though Travis is on
average 2kg heavier than Indie (both dogs are also built very
differently) Indie frequently gets about 20-25% more food than Travis.
Our agility (and flyball/obedience/tracking/ rescue)
dogs are athletes and should be trained just like any human athlete
would. A big part of the dogs training regime should incorporate
building cardiovascular endurance (distance running), core strength
(balance exercises) and increasing flexibility. There are so many fun
things we can do with our agility dogs that will keep them in the best
shape possible, while still teaching great skills that will be
indispensable in agility training. If you too are overweight (statistics
indicate that overweight dogs frequently have overweight owners) this
is a great opportunity for the both of you to lose that extra weight
together!
Until
our dogs are in a healthy enough “shape” to compete, they should not be
competing. Remember, we have the choice to say “no, my knees are too
sore to run this event” but our dogs do not, and will often run in pain
simply because we asked them too. In ensuring our canine athletes are as
healthy as possible we are increasing the length of their agility
careers and life expectancy, decreasing the likeness of a crippling
sports injury (a very costly expense), building immunity and ability to
recover from injury/illness faster, and building a great relationship
with our dogs.
Really great and interesting post, I'm looking forward to reading more.
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